The study , which will be presented Saturday at the American Heart Association's Resuscitation Science Symposium in Chicago, found people who received CPR within the first two minutes of an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest had the highest chance for survival and for retaining brain function, but that some benefits could still be gained if aid was given within 10 minutes. The findings are considered preliminary until full results are published in a peer-reviewed journal. "These results highlight the critical importance of quick action in emergencies," study researcher Dr.
Evan O'Keefe said in a news release . He is a cardiovascular fellow at Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute and the University of Missouri-Kansas City. "It suggests that we need to focus on teaching more people how to perform CPR, and we also need to emphasize ways to get help to those suffering cardiac arrest faster.
" Those ways might include more widespread CPR training programs, better public access to automated external defibrillators, or AEDs, and improved dispatch systems, he said. Cardiac arrest occurs when the heart abruptly stops beating. About 350,000 cardiac arrests occur outside the hospital each year in the U.
S., with a survival rate under 10%, according to the AHA. CPR from a bystander offers an increased chance for survival by sending blood to the brain and other vital organs.
The new study investigated whether there was a time limit for when bystander CPR would no longer increase a person's .
